Author: Jesse James Garrett
-
The view from the product side: John Cutler on Finding Our Way
If you’re feeling pushed around as a design leader, there’s a very good chance that it’s your product partner that you feel pushed around by. Though it might feel that way, it’s more likely that you’re both being pushed around by the context you find yourselves in, according to product management consultant John Cutler in…
-
So you’re reporting to a founder
Here is the thing about being a founder: if you are even remotely good at it, your default state is to worry about literally everything literally all the time. Therefore, the most valuable thing that a leader reporting to a founder can provide to a founder is peace of mind. So to understand the value…
-
Building trust at scale: Anne Pascual on Finding Our Way
It is an old management truism that building trust is necessary for success. Without trust from our partners, team members, and leaders, we simply can’t accomplish anything, whether as individuals or as entire teams. For leaders, the challenge is twofold: building the trust that people invest in yourself as a leader while also building the…
-
Product teams’ speed habit
If one thing is broadly true about humans (and indeed most animals), it’s that we tend to do what has worked for us in the past. This, of course, sets us up for the journey of failure and disappointment known as “growth”—just ask any toddler. As companies grow, they also tend to do what has…
-
The second leader: Vuokko Aro on Finding Our Way
It’s tough to be the follow-up act. People talk a lot about being the first leader: zero to one, built from scratch, vision to realization. But the challenges of being the second leader for a team can be even bigger. Success as the second leader depends a lot on what you step into—and whether you’re…
-
Do you work with people who get it?
As much as I love helping my clients dream into the new and go after ever more ambitious goals, the truth is that leaders often call on me because something’s broken down. Lately, that breakdown seems to be more acute than ever, and it’s hitting leaders hard: Losing sleep. Losing focus. Losing motivation. They’re facing…
-
Leading design for AI
I’m fascinated by the emerging challenges I’m seeing among my coaching clients who are leading design for AI products. Some of them are leading new AI features within established product offerings. Others are taking brand new AI products from zero to one. And some of them have been working in the space for a while…
-
Strategic stakeholder empathy: Christina Goldschmidt on Finding Our Way
For many design professionals, empathy can feel so reflexive it’s hardly a choice. It’s often our instinctive desire to solve a problem for someone else that draws us to design in the first place. But if the phrase “stakeholder empathy” gives you the heebie-jeebies, well, I don’t blame you. It brings to mind images of…
-
Establishing credibility as a new leader: Rebecca Nordstrom on Finding Our Way
When you’re a new design leader creating a new design function for an existing organization, establishing your credibility and authority can be challenging. Some leaders choose to lobby at the top, seeking an executive mandate they can wield to bend their partners to their processes. In my experience, though, this approach creates so much potential…
-
Design leaders in transition
It’s a sign of the times. I’m coaching a lot of design leaders lately who are making big transitions: moving towards different roles, different organizations, different mandates, and different ways of delivering value and finding satisfaction in their work. Some of them are choosing to find a way out of their orgs—while others are being…
Jesse James Garrett 